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2016 Honda BF250 shifting into Neutral

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Dream Weaver

New member
Hello,

We have a new Honda BF250 on our new pontoon boat and we are having issues with it shifting into neutral from forward and reverse at idle speed. Had into the dealer for the 20 hour service and they checked it out and called Honda tech line as it was not in the cables. Honda told our tech that if it is under 1100 RPMs for X amount of time the motor changes timing making it hard to shift into neutral. I went out with the tech and he showed me just that, we had it at 1200 RPMs and pulled it back into neutral with out any effort at all then ran it at 1000 for 15 seconds and it took bit of effort it get it into neutral. Honda told the tech that it would take a ECM change to fix it but there were no plans to do a upgrade. It was better after the gear lube was change and the temp was a little warmer out but when the wife tried to put it on the trailer a couple days earlier she really struggled with it and docking was difficult more so if there was any wind. We can't be the only ones with this issue, has anyone had this issue or have heard of it?

Dream Weaver
 
I've never heard of this happening. Seems odd and a poor design flaw. i have 2 older (2003) honda 200's and don't have this issue. I'm sure someone will chime in here!
 
I am aware of hard shifting issues with the 250. I was not aware of the higher difficulty at lower rpms, as explained. Normally, the slower the rpm, the easier motors are to shift.

I have also not heard of any fixes.

Whenever we have sold a 250, we have always included the Intelligent Shift and Throttle (Ist) and shifting can be done with your fingertips. Of course, it adds a lot of money to the price. Of course, that does not help your situation.

It sounds like your dealer has done everything that they can. They may have suggested this, but you may want to call the Honda Customer Relations to relate your issue, so they have an official record of your problem and hopefully help them build a case to send to Japan for a fix. 770-497-6400

Sorry that you are having a bad experience.

Mike
 
Hi,

i am having exactly the same issues. Look at my post from 2014. http://www.marineengine.com/boat-forum/showthread.php?414766-Honda-BF250-hard-shifting-to-neutral

Look also at this video I posted to YouTube. https://youtu.be/GRNR6FaLdwA. The person on the steering wheel is a certified Honda engineer.

You can clearly see that from 1200 rpm it shifts like knife in butter whereas from partial to neutral it is very very hard. This is clearly a design flaw of the engine probably due to the ECM programming as hondadude writes above. And it could be that this is solved with the introduction of the intelligent shift and throttle.

I've done a lot of communication to Honda and they have been trying to make changes but with no success. Next step is a formal filing of a complain through a legal channel. If you want we can align on this. Send me a private message with an email and I can give you more information.

On the mean time please let me know what type and pitch of propeller you have.
 
this is the biggest problem with BF250 engine when it is new , but after 100 hours of usage it will become ok. otherwise starting we had face lot of complain and nothing to do with it.
BF 250 got big gearbox, gear wheels and the clutch is bigger than 225,200 that's y it is hard to shift with push - pull cable, If it is electronic shift control you will not feel it,unfortunately Intelligent Shift and Throttle (Ist) is not yet introduce in our region.

For sure this problem will solve after 100 hour usage.

If somebody deal with this problem and found solution please let us know.

wajira
 
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